'Cloverfield' (2008) is an extended pursuit scene turned into a movie, but that isn't necessarily a limiting factor. A well-executed pursuit scene is the purest of cinematic conventions: characters respond to a continuing, evolving crisis consistent with their personalities, interacting with humor, pathos and empathy along the way, to attain their shared goal of survival and personal growth. The 'Cloverfield' pursuit, however, dragged in places. They traverse three landscapes: street-level, a subway tunnel, and a hi-rise building. The all-important structural plot-points, not surprisingly, seem weak because the story hinges entirely on a fairly limited understanding of what constitutes 1) a flight from the mayhem, and 2) who, how, and why rescue would become a goal. This film needs more back story, more interaction between the characters, and more incidents for the characters to respond to.

I will now consider how the movie's five plot points create the story's deep structure: the Inciting Incident of Act 1, Turning Points 1 and 2 of Act 2, and the Crisis Decision and Climax of Act 3. Spoiler alert: this structural analysis will reveal crucial plot moments; you may prefer to read this after viewing the film. A send-off party is under way in a large, hi-rise, penthouse suite in downtown New York City. Marlena, the hostess, is having a video record of the evening made, which constitutes the unrelenting point of view of the entire movie. If you don't like videography, you may get irritated that the narrative frame never steps away from this device. But try and get past this if you can.

Any Hollywood movie's Inciting Incident, which occurs usually in the first 1/2 hour, challenges the hero to respond to a life-changing problem. To achieve that response, the hero must internally expand, which means he irrevocably changes his life. Either way, there is no going back. The hero is then thrown into a series of escalating accommodations in his journey to understand and solve the Inciting Incident's original problem. This movie's Inciting Incident occurs when the attack begins, because after this point, their situation is irrevocable. The attack draws the young revelers to the roof where they see rockets being shot from alien landing craft, exploding and destroying entire buildings nearby. I found this section, up until the appearance of the first alien 'monster', utterly gripping, as it evoked what the next Islamist attack may feel like. It viscerally evoked 9/11,

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Movie reviews: Cloverfield?
We want to hear your view. Write now!